Tuesday, March 26, 2013

What a crazy fun weekend!?! It was great to have my sister, Denise, here visiting from Ohio. We all agreed that she brought the cooler weather with her.

Northshore Trails

Practically straight from the airport, we went and ran trails at Northshore Trail in Grapevine. We ran the southern part of it running to Rockledge Park and back to the parking spot near Murrell Park. It was a fun 4 mile run that she really enjoyed. She was totally surprised at how dry the trails were compared to Ohio trails. She left snow back home on Thursday. She also wasn’t used to the off-road bikes on the trails. They’ve got horses on their trails back up north.

It was fun to just have a conversationally good time with her on the trails. Normally when I go to Northshore, I try to put the hammer down. We definitely stopped and smelled the roses and took a bunch of pictures. I told her about Rockledge Rumble 30K that I ran back in November. Of course, I had to show her where I fell during the race. :)

We pretty much chilled on Friday in anticipation of the Grasslands Half Marathon on Saturday. By chilling, I mean that we went to a pet store at a doggy day care place. Denise is a huge dog lover as she loves to train her Weimaraner, Jackson and other dogs. We also had to go to a nearby running store. We visited RunOn! up in McKinney. She bought me a super cool lightweight Brooks jacket that was on clearance. Thanks, girl! I got to use it on Saturday at Grasslands.

Before the race, Denise was praying for rain and colder temperatures. She was stressing about running in the Texas heat. I don’t mind the colder temps, but I’m not a fan when combined with rain. I jokingly would tell her that I was praying for no rain and comfortable temps.

Grasslands Half Marathon

Everything that I’ve been told and researched in anticipation of Grasslands was that there’d be a lot of sand, cow patties, and pastures. I wasn’t let down. The rain did help to make the sand firmer to run in, but later in the race it was a slipe-sliding crazy time!

When I checked Weather.com before we left the house it definitely looked like we were going to have some rain during the race. Well, the rain and lightning started while we were driving to Decatur. I wasn’t feeling great about this, but then again, I survived the 2011 Dallas White Rock Marathon. :)

We found our way to the parking, grabbed our race packets and stayed warm in the car for awhile. Once we got out of the car for the pre-race briefing, the rain luckily stopped. I thought there was some hope of no rain for the rest of the rain. I was definitely wrong.

Dean from the Frisco Running Club rode along with us to the race. We got to share race stories coming and going to the race. Before the race, we posed for a FRC group photo. Denise was made an honorary member of the group.

My race strategy??? I wanted to get as close to 2 hours as possible. I figured with the course being less technical than Northshore, flatter, and more straight-a-ways, I’d have a chance to get some speed going for this race.

After a 10 second countdown, precisely at 8:30am, we were on our way. As usual at the start of any race, we were pretty packed. Whenever I run with Cairo, I like to keep him in my sights as it gives me comfort. He told me that he’d be behind me the whole race to let me set the pace.

Lost Already!?!

The race started at a pretty quick pace as we were initially headed downhill. As we’re all clumped up together, you’re just focused on watching the ground and the person in front of you. Being the Lemmings that we are, we followed the runners in front of us. After about .6 miles, one of the lead runners took the wrong path, which in turn had everyone following along the wrong path. It took awhile for all of us to figure this out as we weren’t seeing our blue markers on the trail anymore, just orange ones. Uh oh! It was probably a funny sight as we’re all looking at each other trying to figure out what to do. So, some of us went back while others were determined to continue straight ahead. Hanging with another father-son duo, Cairo and I found our way back to the correct blue trail.

So, after going a quarter mile out of our way and a quarter mile back on course, we were ready to get back into a groove. As most trail runners would tell us… these were bonus miles or a bonus half mile.

The beginning of the race there was a lot of sand which felt like running on a beach. After our mishap in the beginning, it was kind of neat to catch up to the race from the back. We were able to see all of our running friends as we caught up to them. They had the common question of where’d you come from? When we caught up to Denise, I made sure to holler and scream for her. She was definitely in her environment as she was embracing every challenging part of the course.

The first aid station was a welcome sight as Cairo and I were getting used to the terrain. It was great to see Kevin Luper at the aid station. We ran together way back in my DRC training days. After the first aid station came some heavy downpour of rain along with some heavy thunder, dark skies, and lightning. With the lightning being so close, I really think that most road races would’ve closed the event. It was getting pretty close for comfort.

Hail!?!

After dodging the lightning & thunder brought the next challenge of the hail. Oh hail! Thank God, that it was only pea sized, but nonetheless it was pretty crazy to be running through it. The hail stopped for a while and then we got a second wave of hail for good measure. It was funny to see a runner taking a picture of the hail. The hail, lightning, rain, & thunder, just made me want to run faster.

After about mile 8 or so, it seemed that Cairo was falling further behind me and I was running more with Dean. Before the race I told Cairo that this was not his goal race and to not go all out of he wasn’t feeling it. When I got to the second aid station, I fueled up with some Gatorade and topped off my water bottle. The volunteers were so awesome and accommodating. I asked them to please look out for my son, told me his name and bib number. I told them to tell how proud I was of him! I said that he was probably 5-10 minutes behind me. I had no idea how far back he would be. Come to find out, he was about 2 minutes behind me. The volunteers encouraged him and told him, “Go, catch your dad!”

2nd Aid Station & Finish

Once done at the 2nd aid station, I looked at Dean and said this is the last stretch, let’s knock it out. Before we could knock it out, we had a bad stretch of muddy trails that really slowed us down with how slippery they were. It was pretty discouraging. It was an art to find a place for good footing. You also had to avoid the thorny branches all along the trail. We finally got to some drier and higher ground and were able to get some traction going. Once that I knew that we only had a mile to go, I really let loose and put the hammer down. The hard part of the finish was the majority of the last mile was uphill. I pushed hard at the end and was real happy with my time of 2:10 considering the weather conditions and the bonus half mile.

After I finished, I caught my breath a bit, chatted with Dean, and then went to find Cairo. I got to the end of the parking lot and saw him coming. I ran with him to the end as long as I could before he kicked into his Cross Country style finish. His finishes are always so strong! I call them cross Country style finishes because at any Cross Country meet, you’ll see everything left at that finish line. Super proud of Cairo as he did well in his first trail race. We changed into some dry clothes and then found Denise after she finished. The post-race barbeque was awesome.

The only slight negative is that the finisher’s medal was smaller than the average race medals. Yep, I’m probably getting spoiled with medal sizes from other races. I would definitely run this race again. I think the weather is going to be the biggest variable with this race and really any trail race. I would do the Half Marathon again, not sure about the Marathon, or 50 mile distances.

It was great to meet up with all of my runner friends, before, during, and after the race. This is what I love about racing… sharing the joy of running with friends. We all experienced the craziness of the weather and the course. We’ll probably be talking about this one for awhile.

My sister, Denise had a great time at the race. She enjoyed the mud and the weather! To us, Texans, it was downright COLD. To her, it was a reprieve from her winter. Totally proud of her as she had a big Trail Half Marathon PR out there.

I’m glad that she had the opportunity to run some trails with us here in Texas. I guess I’ll have to schedule a trail race up in Ohio sometime next year.

Monday, March 18, 2013

If you ever thought that marathon training was challenging as an adult, it's just as or more difficult as a teenager. My 17 year old son, Cairo is training with me for his first marathon, the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon. In the beginning, I was slightly skeptical that Cairo's commitment level is where it needs to be.

Teenagers have a lot competing for their attention including school, friends, homework, girlfriend texts, Xbox gaming, and avoiding chores. Yes, races are a lot of fun, but it's the training that's the challenging part. Logging several miles a week over 3-5 days is hectic for anyone's schedule. I've laid out Cairo's training schedule and he has committed to it, but when it comes to the day of doing it, there's usually that teenager that doesn't want to do it. It's the same teenager that does not want to do his chores. Yep, training is hard and races are fun. I've told him repeatedly that we do the hard things so that we can have fun at the races!

When people ask him about his running he will usually say that he likes the races, but isn't crazy about the training. I'm sure this is true for most of us. I think we need to embrace the training. I recently saw a quote that I wish I could give proper credit, but it reads something like, "Finishing a marathon is made up of several finishes".

As I mentioned, I was slightly skeptical that Cairo's commitment level was not where it should be. That is until Saturday morning...

Saturday's morning long run started like most mornings with me acting as the human snooze alarm. That's where I come in every 5 to 10 minutes and try to wake up this young man. After moaning and groaning he eventually gets up and prepares for the run. Before the run, he complained about the outside of his foot hurting from Thursday's trail run. I asked the usual questions to see how bad the pain was. I also knew that we really needed this 16 miler. We agreed to see how it would do after a couple miles.

After 2.5 miles at a good stopping point, I asked how his foot was. He said that it was still bothering him and hurting. I told him an easy way to get home and sent him back home. I wanted him to continue, but not if it was going to hurt or alter his stride. I went onto my normal 16 mile route heading south to Plano. My run was a bit challenging as I've been doing Insanity everyday along with my normal mileage.

At about mile 13.5 after crossing back into Frisco from Plano, I saw a runner approaching wearing a yellow shirt. It was a yellow shirt with Frisco Running Club on the front of it. I was totally surprised when I saw that it was Cairo! I asked him the stupid question of "what are you doing?" He, of course, answers, running! We compared our Garmin watches and it was eerie that we had same distance. He explained that when he got close to the house that his foot wasn't feeling as bad. He said that he really wanted to finish the 16 miles. He went on running one of our normal 6 mile loops.

Again, I was totally surprised to see him and super happy that we were able to finish out the 16.8 miles. We toughed it out together. It definitely seemed challenging for him at the end. It was great to see him beam with pride after his longest run ever.

I really think this is a huge turning point of his commitment level. It went from just lip service that he's committed to… a full jump in the deep end commitment. Running over 14 miles on your own for anyone is huge! I am really impressed with this 17 year old son of mine. He could've jumped back in bed, but he chose to push through.

After recovering from the run, I told him how proud of him that I was. He said that he knew that I would be. I'm sure that was probably a part of what pushed him through the run. I know that his self-esteem has to be huge. This is definitely true for myself when completing something very challenging.

I really think for teenagers or anyone to take on a goal, they really have to own it and want it themselves. On Saturday morning, Cairo showed that he owned the goal and wants it. Yes, I'm sure that I'll still be his human snooze alarm, but he'll knock out the next couple of months of training. We're looking forward to completing the marathon in May.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Cairo, my 17 year old son, and I have been enjoying our marathon training in the Texas winter thus far. Cairo is really amped up as he prepares for his first marathon which will be run in my hometown at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon. We’ve definitely have had warmer weather than probably the majority of runners that are training for the Cleveland Marathon.

To the right is a picture of us with our Cleveland Marathon training shirts. This picture was at Saturday’s local 10K race. It was downright freezing… yep, it was below 32. It was one of the few times that we got to wear our running pants. I had to dust them off!

For the majority of the training days we’ve run in shorts and possibly a single layer or multiple layers up top. Our local group runs are usually at 7am, but a few times, if it’s “too cold” for us, we might wait a few hours to let it warm up 20 degrees or so. It’s nice to have the option of fairer weather running.

Truth be told, I have my highest mileage months during the winter. My highest ever monthly mileage was in January with 156 miles. I told my Cleveland area running sister about this and she told me she was mileage-envious. The opposite will be true for the summer months… lowest mileage months.

We’ve had a pretty mild winter with very few days under freezing and only a couple of snow days. One of the snow days was actually on Christmas. Check me out as I took my dog for a snow run!

We’re a complete opposite in the summer as we try to stay hydrated and get the miles in. It’s pretty darn hard to train for early fall marathons living here in Texas. If we’re going to race in a marathon in September, there’ll be some brutal long runs in July and August. In the summer, I’m known for starting my long runs at 4:30am or 5:00am to beat the sun!

Just thought you’d like a glimpse into Texas Winter Marathon Training. Check back in July/August when I’m dying from the heat.